Ride sharing services used by 54% of taxi market in Australia

The sharing economy is alive and well in Australia, with more than 2.8 million Aussies using applications such as Uber and Airbnb for travel and accommodation services.

Our latest Consumer & Media View data reveals that of the 3.8 million Australians that use taxi services, more than half (54%) now use ride sharing services such as Uber, GoGet, GoCatch, and others.

And, more than one quarter (28%) of Aussies who use taxis now prefer these ride sharing services almost exclusively.

It’s not just the ride sharing services that are on the rise…

In the past five years our Nielsen Consumer & Media View data has shown an 11% increase in the number of Australians 18+ intending to travel. Of this group, one-in-two (9 million) are planning to travel either domestically or internationally within in the next six and 12 months respectively.

As the intention to travel increases, so too do the booking mechanisms available to consumers. 1.6 million Australian-travel-hopefuls indicated they prefer to book their accommodation through share accommodation services like Airbnb.

During March 2016, Uber and Airbnb, the sharing economy leaders in their respective categories, had 1.08 and 1.14 million unique audiences respectively visting their digital properties, according to our Digital Ratings (Monthly) information.

It’s clear that consumers are embracing this alternative and often highly digital experiance to fulfil their needs. This creates many opportunities for players to carve out their unique offering and corner of this growing market.